What went wrong: Mark Breland

This is a fair point.

KOD: An 11th round TKO against Mark Breland put the WBA welterweight strap around your waist in 1987. How does your first world title ranks amongst the greatest achievements for your career?

MS: Let me tell you something: I got the **** beat out of me in that fight. In that fight, I got hit with everything but the kitchen sink. I fought that fight from the heart instead of from the head. That fight, I got an ass whooping, but guess what? I came home with the title. You know what they say in boxing: it ain’t how you start, it’s how you finish.

 

Starling sure did capitalize on the lack of stamina and chin in the 11th round. But I think lack of world class experience of breeland and a wealth of it for starling was a factor.

 

Yes it was a bit jump in class for sure.

 

He was too skinny. 6'3", 147 pounds? Seriously? He should have bulked up to SMW.....if retained or even gained some power he would have been unbeatable.

 

nothing went wrong. He had a decent career, but he was not a great professional. This is the difference between a guy who was better suited for amateur than professional. The professional ranks are more tested physically. and a guy he was compared to was Hearns, who was a rougher and tougher guy than Mark. Just physically stronger than Mark. Mark was built as tall as Hearns with one inch less reach... but he was built with bigger legs but smaller upper body than Hearns, and that made a big difference. And I think Hearns was a mentally tougher guy than Mark. More of a guy who would take punches to give them. I don't recall Mark taking many punches. I compare him to Hearns since Hearns is a tall guy who was great as a professional. Mark was not. So I see how the little differences made a difference.

 

This article agrees.
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-16/sports/sp-1358_1_mark-breland

 

That's a good read. It also shows how criminally underrated Starling was at the time even after beating Breland and having an already solid career behind him. They refer to him as one of boxings "journeymen".

 

Excellent!

 

Yeah,...."what went wrong?" Marlon Magic Man Moochie Starling went wrong!!!

 

Yeah JT,....some "journeyman". He's one of my favorite fighters....I just love what he did to Breland!!

 

Starling was a very very good fighter, particularly after Futch sweetened up his offense a bit. .

 

People are still pretending Breland didn't accomplish anything in the sport simply because he dropped a few fights and otherwise had the most unrealistic expectations ever thrust upon an amateur fighter, creating a frankly ridiculous hype bubble?

He's everything wrong with the modern boxing fan, what with the immediate disposing of an otherwise talented fighter simply because they fall short of projected expectations. It's hardly as if Breland sat on a title safe at home for years on end, or was even a protected fighter. I simply don't understand the flak the man gets.

 

Though in Howard's case, I think he had the wrong managers and trainers involved as well.

 

According to trainer Joey Fariello Breland was a bit thin skinned when taking criticism, might be something that affected him psychologically.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Eow1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=6LQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=970,2356843

Had a decent enough career, not great but not a dud one either.

 

The pros happened. It wasn't minor leagues anymore and more could go wrong quickly